I am not extreme. I am going to say that upfront, mostly because there is way too much of that going on today. It seems like most people in the mainstream media and even in the blogosphere are intent on selling you their own version of the world without compromise. That is the greatest problem that I see in the political arena today. In the classical political world as described to us by Socrates and Plato, politics was the science and art of collective execution via public compromise, the coalescing of a myriad of wills and desires into some sort of actual public good. Of course that is an ideal, and is not necessarily possible, it represents to me what should be possible in a country like our own. People should be willing to understand the views and concerns of others, and work towards something that most can agree on. Instead, we seem to be content with alienating and demonizing the legitimate perspectives of others, refusing to understand any other view but our own. I believe that we are better than that, and this blog is an ode to trying to deal with all kinds of political extremes and sorting them out in such a way that could work for everyone. I do not promise to be without bias, but I promise that I will listen to any sound arguement and to use reason and logic to respond. I have changed my views before and I am not opposed to doing so, and I clearly reserve the right to change my opinions as I deem fit so far as I am presented with convincing and legitimate argumentation. Of course, in keeping with the theme of this blog, I hope that this be the honest position of all who read and participate here, and that this blog may be an open forum for real discussion and compromise.